Fuzzy Ghost reveals deliciously traumatic gameplay for Janet DeMornay Is A Slumlord (and a witch)

Did you know that if you say “Landlord” in the mirror of any mouldy sharehouse bathroom your rent will rise? This is just one of the many very real legends that exist among renters in Australia. Earlier this year the iconic Fuzzy Ghost team put the call out for renter horror stories that would then be included in their next game Janet DeMornay Is A Slumlord (and a witch). As if your usual landlords weren’t bad enough, Janet DeMornay is a much more sinister take on this growing epidemic. Have a surprise inspection of the trailer below!

With more tension than an unsigned lease on a Friday afternoon at 4:58pm, Fuzzy Ghost’s next game is a fantastical look into a worsening problem in Australia as landlords threaten the fabric of everyday happiness. The trailer made its official debut at the 2023 Indie Horror Showcase among a lineup of other ripper horror games. While this game might not have quite the same vibe as Queer Man Peering Into A Rock Pool.jpg, I think it’s important to note that Janet DeMornay Is A Slumlord (and a witch) is very much a queer game through a horror lens. One look at the trailer tells you that this a camp romp through the horrors of renting and the solace of found family.

Any Australian will recognise that phone chime of a dreary landline that’s echoed through many of our childhoods. It’s no surprise that this game is as much a caricature as it is a love letter to found families that have been forced to grow in share houses across Australia. Janet DeMornay Is A Slumlord (and a witch) is a horror comedy that serves Beetlejuice vibes with a gaggle of queers at its centre and I’m ready to give my rent money just to see them escape this dubious hat-wearing, overbearing landlord. Pete Foley and Scott Ford state on the game’s Steam page; “There’s gay on gay relationship content. With no homophobia or coming out stories. Just so you know, we don’t write sad endings for our queers. Let 👏 our 👏 queers 👏 be 👏 happy 👏, being haunted and cursed and doomed is fine.” Be gay, escape evil witch landlords, promptly.

Janet DeMornay Is A Slumlord (and a witch) will be released (evicted) in 2024. I see you, Andrew.